Posted on 04/18/2014 12:46:52 PM PDT by bkopto
Adolescent drivers are often distracted by technology while they are driving, but loud conversations and horseplay between passengers appear more likely to result in a dangerous incident, according to a new study from the UNC Highway Safety Research Center.
The work, which appears online today in the Journal of Adolescent Health, not only reinforces the importance of North Carolina’s licensing system for newly minted drivers but also provides an interesting perspective on the role that technology plays in distracted driving.
“Forty three states currently restrict newly licensed drivers from having more than one young passenger in their vehicle,” said Robert Foss, senior research scientist at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center, and director of the Center for the Study of Young Drivers. “The results of this study illustrate the importance of such restrictions, which increase the safety of drivers, their passengers and others on the road by reducing the potential chaos that novice drivers experience.”
In their work, Foss and his colleague Arthur Goodwin recruited 52 North Carolina high-school age drivers to have in-vehicle cameras mounted in their cars and trucks to observe distracted driving behaviors and distracted conditions when teen drivers were behind the wheel. Young drivers were recorded in a variety of real-world driving situations over six months — with parents in the car, with other teens in the car and alone.
The study shows that young drivers were less likely to use cell phones and other technology (including in-vehicle systems, like the radio and temperature control) when there were passengers in the car with them. But having multiple passengers in the car more often led to more serious incidents. Teen drivers were six times more likely to have a serious incident when there was loud conversation in the vehicle — to the point of needing to make an evasive maneuver to avoid a crash — and three times more likely to have a serious incident when there was horseplay in the vehicle.
Another important finding is that actions the driver alone controls – reaching, texting, using a phone and eating — seem less likely to lead to a serious incident than things they can’t control, like how others in the car behave.
“This is why the limit of one teen passenger is important when teens are just learning to drive,” said Foss.
There ought to be a law.
I get the distinct impression that the author doesn’t think teenagers are very responsible.
DUH! Award of the day goes to the author...
Wow...another hard hitting article plucked from the ‘Water is Wet’ file...
They could’ve paid me several less million and I could have told them that!
That people spent time and money on something so stupidly obvious is incredible.
Sometimes I see a carload of youngsters grab@$$ing in a car, while the boom of the bass in their sound system rattles the fillings in my teeth. It is hard to decide whether to curse them or whisper a prayer that they survive the ride.
This is why my son’s first vehicle was a pickup truck.
“horseplay”? I haven’t heard that term for awhile. Is the author in his 90’s?
And in other news, researchers have determined that water is wet and fire is hot...
Gees it has been the same since I was a teen in the ‘60s! We were crazy!
I think in some States with graduated driver’s licenses there are restrictions on how many other crazed teenagers can also be in the car - 0 or 1.
My goodness.... how much money did this cost to find the obvious???
When driving, TV and movie characters seem to keep their everywhere except on the road. Granted, they are being towed, rather than actually driving, but it sets a really bad example for impressionable viewers, which appears to be a lot of actual drivers.
Drunk and stoned.
You didn't even get in much trouble if you got caught, but it would screw up your weekend.
I'm so glad nobody got hurt.
I support laws that put scrutiny on these young drivers. My friends and I are lucky to be alive.
As the parent of several loud teenagers, I can conclusively say they are a huge distraction for me as well.
***but loud conversations and horseplay between passengers appear more likely to result in a dangerous incident,***
No s#!t Sherlock! And how much taxpayer’s money did it take to come to this conclusion that everyone has known for the last 90 years?
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